


The Case of the Werewolf Under the Bed

by WhatLocked



Series: The William Watson Case Files [10]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Almost Halloween, Dogs, M/M, Sneaky behaviour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 12:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12507852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatLocked/pseuds/WhatLocked
Summary: There is a howling coming from under the bed.  William says it is a werewolf.





	The Case of the Werewolf Under the Bed

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to Halloween this year. Hope you enjoy
> 
> NTW

~~~~~~~~~~

_Saturday Night._

William stood with his back to the closed door, his body blocking the handle, stopping anyone from opening the door.  Brian stood next to him, both boys preparing themselves for the inevitable questioning that was coming up the stairs right at that moment.  

It was only a few seconds later that both Sherlock and his dad were standing in front of them.  The look on Sherlock's face was one that he had when there was a puzzle.  The one on his dads was one he used when he didn’t want Sherlock to know that he was about to be in trouble.  

“Hi daddy,” William said, tugging at the sleeve of his dinosaur pyjamas.  He needed something to distract him.  Lying to his dad wasn’t easy.  It was impossible to do with Sherlock there.  He had to stay focused.  Next to him, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Brian fiddling with the buttons on his spaceman pyjamas.  

“William, Brian” his daddy greeted, the look not shifting from his face.  “How was your evening?”

William relaxed.  They hadn’t heard it after all.  They were just coming up to see if they had had a fun night.  

“We’ve had a great night” Brian informed them, also realising that they weren't in trouble.

“Yeah, Tiana gave uth a new game on the iPad and thee cooked uth popcorn” William added on excitedly.  

“Tiana?” John asked, looking towards Sherlock for clarification.

“You know her as Anthea” Sherlock confirmed, his puzzled face turning into an annoyed frown.  “Because Mycroft that lazy bast…”

“Sherlock” John cut in. “Stay focused.”

Sherlock let out a huff and stopped talking, but the annoyed frown didn’t leave his face.

“Does any of this popcorn that you have, does it bark by any chance?”

William felt his stomach do really weird things and his fingers started tugging at his sleeve again.  “That’th jutht thilly daddy,” he said, trying to sound brave.  Maybe if he sounded brave, his dad would believe him.  “Popcorn doethn’t bark.  It pop’th.”

A nervous laughter left Brian’s mouth before he quickly clamped his mouth shut.

“So, there was no barking coming from this room, at all, just a few minutes ago.”

William stole a look to Brian, who was looking at the floor and looked back to his father.  “No” he answered slowly.

His dad opened his mouth to ask yet another question but was stopped by the sound of a howl coming from the room behind them.

Silence fell around them.  Brian stared harder at the floor, John glared at William, William stared wide-eyed back at his father.  Sherlock had that grin he got when John told Mycroft off. 

“Would you mind explaining what that noise was?” John asked, his eyes not looking away from William.

William looked back to Brian, who had finally stopped staring at the floor and was now looking to William.  Both of them looked back at John.

“Werewolves” Brian blurted out.

“Werewolves?” John repeated. 

William nodded his head, probably a bit too enthusiastically.  “Yeth” he confirmed.  “It ith nearly Halloween.  There are werewolveth everywhere.”

“Halloween is two weeks away and they don’t come out at Halloween.  They come out on a full moon.  It’s not a full moon” his daddy replied

Just then another howl came from behind the door and before William could do anything to stop it, Sherlock reached over his shoulder and turned the door handle that William thought his body had been blocking.

As the door swung open, a low growl - quite possibly the most unthreatening noise to have ever been made - came from under the bed.

“And what, pray tell” Sherlock asked in that slow, yet clever way that he has, “is a werewolf doing under your bed?”

~o~

_Earlier that morning.  Very,_ very _, earlier that morning._

William had badly needed the toilet.  Usually, he went before bed, but they had been at Angelo’s for dinner and William had fallen asleep on the ride back home.  So here he was, at two-thirty in the morning, trying not to wake anyone up as he made his way to the toilet.  

He quickly did what he had to, washed his hands and then went into the hallway, about to make his way into Daddy and Sherlock's room, because he didn’t want to climb back up the stairs to his own bed, when he heard it.  

It was a howling noise, coming from somewhere outside.  At first, William was scared.  Brian had told him all about werewolves at daycare the other day and how they howled at the moon.  Quickly the fear (almost all of it) went away and curiosity took over.  Brian had never seen a real werewolf.  He had only heard stories.  And if there was a werewolf on the street it wouldn’t be able to get him, because he was inside and upstairs.  And even if it did get inside, his daddy would shoot it.  

So, instead of going into the bedroom at the end of the hall, William made his way to the lounge room and crept up to the windows.  Standing on his tippy-toes, he peeped over the window sill and down to the streets below and saw…not a werewolf.  

What he did see was something even better.  

Being even quieter than he was before, William made his way downstairs, keeping to the edge of the stairs so they didn’t squeak.  Once he was all the way down, he pulled out the stool that was there, for the very sole purpose of helping William open the door, without assistance, should there be an emergency (and this was an emergency) and he unlatched and opened the door, just a crack.

Instantly, the cold night air crept over his bare toes, causing him to shiver but he ignored this.  Instead, he hopped down off the stool and pulled the door open even wider.

There, on the pavement, just outside his door, was a puppy dog.

“Hello boy,” William said, crouching down and holding his hand out to the dog.  Instantly the dog trotted over and started licking and sniffing at the outstretched hand.  

A small giggle escaped Williams lips before he clamped his mouth shut and listened for any sounds upstairs.  Nothing could be heard so William focused his attention back on the dog, which was still licking his hand.  

Still being extra quiet, William stood up and stepped aside, making room for the dog to come inside.  Once it was in, William closed the door, making sure the latch was pushed over and turned his attention back to the dog.  

“You can thtay with me,” he said down to the fluffball at his feet, and the dog wagged its tail, clearly happy with the arrangement.

~o~

Despite being only four years old, William was quite clever and he knew that he not only had to keep the dog a secret from both Sherlock and his dad, lest they send it away, but he also had to look after the dog.  

Now, William had never had a puppy before, but Rachel at daycare had and she had told William and Brian all about the things she had to do to look after the puppy.

First of all, he went downstairs, careful not to make any noise, and gathered all the newspapers that he could find.  He took these upstairs and spread them all over his bedroom floor.  He wasn’t exactly sure what purpose this served, only that it had something to do with _housetraining_.  

The next thing he did, after playing with the puppy for half an hour and making sure it kept quiet, was to find some food for it.  

This wouldn’t be hard, as he knew that his daddy had bought some sausages home from the butchers yesterday.  Again, quietly making his way downstairs, he used a kitchen chair to open the fridge and extract the packet of sausages from the fridge, taking them back upstairs with a bottle of water.  

The puppy was extremely happy that he had returned and was even more so when William ripped open the plastic covering the sausages and dumped the entire contents on the floor.  Next, he tipped out the plastic dinosaurs from their small container and poured the water into it, placing the bowl somewhere where the puppy could reach it.

William knew that it was going to be hard keeping the dog a secret and he knew it had to be kept a secret because if his daddy found out about the dog, he would send the dog away, but William was sure he could do it because William was noting but determined when he put his mind to something.  

William was also a very sentimental child and once he found something that he loved, he never, ever, wanted to let it go and the instant he had let this dog sniff his hand for the first time, William fell in love. 

The puppy wasn’t very big at all.  It didn’t even come up to William's knees.  It had fluffy brown fur, the colour of Mrs Hudson’s caramel muffins and it had little brown eyes and a small tongue that poked out of its mouth.  It looked just like a teddy bear.  

“You need a name” William murmured as he stroked the dog’s soft fur.  The puppy gave a quiet yap as if to agree so William sat and thought while he stroked the dogs head and back.  

“Ralph” William declared after several minutes of serious thinking.  He had a bus driver once whose name was Ralph and William had liked him immensely.  He knew all about everything in London.  He was almost as clever as Sherlock.  

Ralph seemed to approve of his new name and stood up, his paws on Williams crossed legs and started wiggling his backside excitedly.  William giggled at the dog's antics and for a while, they quietly played, happily, on the bedroom floor.  

Eventually, both the dog and the boy wore themselves out (after all, it was three-thirty in the morning) and fell asleep on the floor, next to the bed, the dog curled in a ball and William curled around the dog.  

~o~

William gave Ralph one quick reminder to be quiet and a rub behind the ears before making his way downstairs for breakfast.  He wanted to get down before his dad came up to check on him.  Ralph rolled onto his back, gave a little wiggle and then curled back up into a ball on the pillow William had left on the floor for him.

Downstairs, Sherlock was drinking coffee and Daddy was in the shower.  

“Did Gavin ring you with a cathe?” William asked, pulling a chair up to the table and climbing up.

“What makes you say that?” Sherlock asked, getting ready to prepare Williams usual breakfast of weety-bix.  He held up two boxes.  

“Apricot,” William said, pointing to the orange box.

“You are drethed before daddy and daddy ith having a thower before breakfatht, becauth you told him to hurry up”  William said, answering Sherlock's question.

Sherlock beamed at him and William beamed back.  William liked that smile.  It meant that he had done something clever.  

“Very good, William.  Perfect deductions.”  Williams smile grew only to drop again.

“But daddy thaid that Brian could thleep over tonight and Mithuth Hudthon is going to the cab of ray.  What if you are not home in time?”

“ _Cabaret_ and never fear” Sherlock announced, dropping his mug into the sink with a loud clatter.  “Mycroft owes me a favour.  He will take come and babysit.”

William scrunched up his nose, despite actually not minding spending time with Mycroft.  

“Mycroft hates musicals” Sherlock announced with a grin.  “Can’t stand them, and he hates jazz.  Think of all the fun you can have, making him watch Aristocats.”

William grinned back and shoved a spoon full of weety-bix into his mouth.  He wanted to hurry up and get back to Ralph.

Just then John emerged in the kitchen, buttoning up his shirt.

“Morning, buddy,” he said quickly, giving Williams hair a ruffle as he walked past.  

William watched as Sherlock handed him a mug and a piece of toast.  

“Morning daddy” William replied around another mouth full of cereal.  

“Mrs Hudson’s going to watch you today until she has to go…” His daddy was cut off mid-sentence by a scratching sound coming from above them.  William had to try, twice, to swallow the food in his mouth. 

“What was that?” his dad asked, still looking up at the ceiling.  

William quickly tried to find something other than, _there is a puppy in my bedroom_ , and the only thing he could think of was “Ratth.”

Both Sherlock and his dad looked at him.  “I saw a rat the other day,” he said.  “It wath huge.”  Technically it wasn’t a lie.  He had seen a rat, it is just that it was in a cage, not running around upstairs.

John looked accusingly towards Sherlock.  “You said you contained all of them.”

“I did” Sherlock replied, a slight pout on his lips.  “All nine were returned to the laboratory.”

“You borrowed ten,” John said.

A guilty look fell across Sherlock's face.  “One…” he looked to William and then back to John. “Let’s just say that number ten isn’t scratching between our walls.”

William watched as his daddy quickly finished off his cup of tea.  “I’ll call the exterminator next week,” he said, cramming the rest of his toast in his mouth.  “There are enough unsavoury things in this house without adding unwanted rodents to the list” and with that, William was ushered downstairs, to Mrs Hudson, while his dad and Sherlock went to go meet Gavin.

~o~

It was easy to keep visiting Ralph, while Mrs Hudson was looking after him.  So long as she knew where he was and he kept coming back downstairs regularly, or when she called him, she was happy.  And William was happy too because that meant that he didn’t have to watch her boring movies that had way too much kissing in them.

Best of all, it gave William plenty of time to play with Ralph and make sure he had food to eat.  It turned out that Ralph liked Mrs Hudson’s cookies just as much as William did.  If Mrs Hudson had noticed that William was going through twice as many biscuits as normal, she didn’t say a word.

It also gave William a chance to realise how yucky dogs could be.  Twice William had to put on a pair of latex gloves from daddy’s first aid kit and pick up a pooh the dog had done.  He quickly chucked it, and the gloves, out his window and placed fresh newspaper over the marks.  

~o~

“I have a thecret to thow you” William whispered to Brian, as soon as his friend walked in the house.

As it turned out his sleepover was still on, even though his daddy and Sherlock couldn’t be home in time to watch them and Mycroft was doing very important things that would stop England from crumbling into the ocean, so he couldn’t watch them either, but that was okay, because he sent his pretty lady assistant to babysit.  

William liked her.  She had lots of different names and put the best games on his iPad.  Ones that the other kids couldn’t play yet.

Today her name was Tiana and she was currently explaining to Brian’s parents that John and Sherlock would be along shortly and not to worry, she was perfectly safe to look after two small boys.

“What is it?” he asked William, also in a whisper, as they edged further into the building and up the stairs.

William looked towards Tiana, noting that she was not listening to them because she was busy closing the front door and pulling her phone out of her pocket again.  He turned back to his friend, not seeing the small smile spread over Tiana’s lips.

“I can’t thay now.  It’th in my bedroom but you’ve gotta promithe to keep it a thuper thecret.”

“I promise” Brian vowed and together they quickly slipped up the stairs, listening as Tiana slowly made her way into the living room of 221 B.

~o~

“You got a puppy!” Brian exclaimed as the dog happily bounced over to them once they opened the door.

“Thhhhh” William hissed.  “Not too loud.  No one knowth about him.”

Ralph gave a small yap and the boys turned their attentions back on the dog, kneeling down and patting him and rubbing his belly, as William explained to Brian how he came to have a puppy all of his own.

“Now I jutht have to make sure Daddy doethn’t find out otherwithe he will thend Ralph away.”

“How has Sherlock not heard him bark?” Brian asked as Ralph finally settled down between them, content at having the attention of both boys bestowed upon him.

“They have been out all day” William explained.  “And Mitheth Hudthon hath her radio and TV on all day tho thee can’t hear hith lttle bark from her flat.”

Just to prove that he was quiet, Ralph gave another little yap and the boys giggled and renewed the effort of their patting.

~o~

The evening was spent playing upstairs with Ralph, smuggling chicken nuggets into their pocket for the dog to eat, at dinner time, and making regular visits downstairs so Tiana didn’t worry about what they were doing and come up and check on them.  

Tiana made them a big bowl of popcorn and they took it upstairs, thinking Ralph would also enjoy it.  

They had their bath in record time and scampered back up the stairs, just in time to hear the sound of the downstairs door slamming shut.  

Both William and Brian looked towards the bedroom door and listened as Sherlock and John made their way up the stairs.  There was the sound of Johns laughter coming up the stairs and then they were stopped by Tiana coming out to talk to them before going downstairs and out of the flat.

“I will have to go down and thee them” William whispered once he heard their babysitter leaving.  “Or they will come up here.”

Brian nodded in agreement and William stood up and went to open the door, only to be stopped by Ralph barking, and it wasn’t a little yap like he had been doing all day.  It was a proper bark and while it wasn’t too threatening, it was definitely loud enough to carry downstairs.  

“Quickly” William whispered urgently.  “We have to hide him.”

Frantically, the boys looked around the room.  William didn’t want to hide him in the wardrobe or in the toy box, because Ralph would only scratch, trying to get out, but they had to move quickly because he had just heard his daddy call “William, Brian?” up the stairs.

“Under the bed” Brian hissed, dropping to his knees, and patting the floor to indicate to Ralph that he should go under.  Ralph just looked at him, his little tongue poking out and his tail wagging excitedly.

Without another thought, William grabbed handfuls of popcorn and chucked it under the bed.  Brian copied his actions and Ralph happily followed the trail of popcorn.

Happy that the dog would be occupied for a while, both boys exited the room and slammed the door closed, standing at it like two guards protecting a very precious treasure, listening nervously to the sound of two sets of feet making their way up the stairs to Williams bedroom.

It wasn’t long before the two adults of the house were standing before them.

“Hi daddy,” William said, tugging at the sleeve of his dinosaur pyjamas.

~o~

_Back at the Beginning_

“And what, pray tell,” Sherlock asked in that slow, yet clever way that he has, “is a werewolf doing under your bed?”

William tried to come up with an answer, he really did, but just as he was trying to think of something… _anything_ , that would explain the growling coming from under his bed (as rats certainly do not growl) Ralph decided to join their little gathering, coming out from under the bed and wagging his tail in a fashion that clearly showed how excited he was that there were people to pay him attention.

Several things happened at once.  

“Look, a puppy” Brian cried, trying and failing to sound surprised.

“Where in the hell did that come from?” was his daddy’s reply.

“Please don’t send him away” pleaded William.

“What in the hell is that supposed to be?” was Sherlock's response.

And Ralph gave an excited little _yap_ and piddled on the floor.

~o~

William sat on the couch, next to Brian, trying valiantly not to let the tears spill over.

Ralph had just been given back to his proper owner.  There had been a collar, with a phone number, and once his dad had gotten over the shock of finding a puppy in Williams bedroom, he had called that number.

It hadn’t taken long for the owner, a rather large Asian woman who insisted the dog's name was Flossy (that was a _stupid_ name for a dog) to arrive and she had cooed and cuddled the dog, placing kisses all over its tiny face as soon as she arrived after  _Ralph_ had bounded over to her.

She thanked John, several times, before finally taking the dog and leaving.  For good. 

When she was gone, John made his way over to the couch and sat next to his son.

“William,” he said, but William didn’t want to look at him.  William was angry with him.  

“William, buddy, look at me.”

“No.”

He heard his dad sigh next to him on one side and Brian fidget next to him on the other side. 

“She had to go back to her owner,” his dad said gently, but William didn’t care.  

“But _he_ wath happy here” he whined.

“It was a puppy, William.  It was just happy to have someone to look after it.”

“I wath looking after it.”

Another sigh.

“You gave it your best shot, I’ll agree to that much” his dad offered and then placed a hand on William's shoulder.  William shrugged it off. “Look” his dad started when William still didn’t look at him.  “Wouldn’t you be sad if your dog went missing one day and you didn’t know where it was?”

At this, William did look up.  “But I don’t have a dog.”

“Well, no, but if you did have one, how would you feel?”

William didn’t care how he would feel.  What he cared about was that his dad had just said that _if he did_ have a dog.  “Tho, I can get a dog now?”

A frown fell over his dad’s eyes like something had confused him.  “I never said you could get a dog.”

“No, you thaid if I did have one, which means that I can have one” William explained, feeling very excited.  “It’th my birthday in nine dayth.  Are you getting me a puppy for my birthday.”

“What, no, calm down buddy.  No-one said anything about a dog.  It was just an example.”

William looked up at his dad, his eyes narrowing as if trying to read his thoughts.  Did his dad look like he was lying?  Maybe he was keeping it a secret until his birthday.  

“Riiight,” William said, standing up trying to contain the happiness that was twisting his belly.  Maybe he was going to get a puppy for his birthday.  

“William,” his dad said in a warning voice.  “There isn’t going to be a puppy for your birthday.  Please do not get your hopes up.”

“Okay,” William said, hope flaring in his chest.  He also told William that he wasn’t going to get roller skates for Christmas last year and he did.  There was almost definitely going to be a puppy for his birthday.  “Come on Brian.  Let’th go play robots” and with that, the two boys left the living room, whispering eagerly amongst themselves as they moved upstairs.

“You know he thinks he really is getting a dog for his birthday,” Sherlock said, the first thing he had uttered since he had come back from cleaning up all the newspaper in Williams room.  (John said he owed it to John for making him have to sit and listen to an old man rattle on about his younger days as a librarian, for two hours while Sherlock had scouted for evidence.)

“I know” John moaned.  “I didn’t mention a dog of his own.  I don’t even know how he came to that conclusion.”

Sherlock unhelpfully shrugged his shoulders.  “The thinkings of a four-year-old” he offered. 

“God, what am I going to do?”

“Get him a dog” was Sherlock's simple advice.

This garnered the taller man a glare from the shorter one.  “Sherlock, he is not getting a dog for his birthday.”

“Well then,” Sherlock said, standing up.  “I hope you have something truly magnificent up your sleeve as an alternative.  Tea?”

John hummed out an affirmative on the tea and then let his head flop back on the couch in despair.  What the fuck was he going to do about Williams birthday, that wasn’t going to leave the boy heartbroken. 

**Author's Note:**

> * So, any suggestions??
> 
> **I’m not sure how William came to the conclusion about being able to have a dog, but I have decided that little people’s brains work much differently than ours, as many discussions with my own nephews and nieces has taught me.
> 
> ***Ralph is a Teddy Bear Pomeranian and is soooo adorable. See for yourself here https://www.dailysabah.com/life/2017/01/04/toy-sized-pomeranian-dogs-favorite-pet-in-turkey (I took liberties with the colouring.)


End file.
